


The Price You Pay

by allaire mikháil (allaire)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Betrayal, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not Team Cap-friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Steve Rogers is morally bankrupt, Unreliable Narrator, actions have consequences, no one steals from Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 03:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12808377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allaire/pseuds/allaire%20mikh%C3%A1il
Summary: Tony refuses to help Bucky with BARF. Steve decides to take matters into his own hands.





	The Price You Pay

Sam isn't sure what the name of Stark's new PA is, but somehow the girl manages to be even more omnipresent at the Compound than Friday is. Honestly, it's almost creepy. The girl - or is it woman? She seems to be in her mid-twenties, so Sam resolves to call her "girl" in his head - is short, brunette, wears glasses and has a distinctive Germanic accent. She's far less put together than the women Stark usually surrounds himself with, and if Sam had to guess, he'd call the girl's attire "struggling student chic". At least she wears sensible shoes, unlike Potts.

She is either sequestered in Stark's workshop alongside the man, or hurrying into or out of the building, more often than not with a phone pressed to her ear. She doesn't return most of the greetings aimed at her and has a truly impressive scowl.

Huh. That's strange and bears investigating. Sam decides to find out how the girl got the job in the first place.

***

Two weeks later, and Sam is still confused.

After overhearing Rhodes, he concludes that the girl's name is Susanne. When he addresses her like that, though, he is coldly informed that he is to call her by her title and surname. "Dr. Medens" it is, then. Strangely, the professional distance she insisted on with Sam doesn't seem to extend to Stark, Rhodes and Vision. Or Friday. Or Spiderman, who still refuses to take off his mask when talking to the Avengers. Apparently, she's a doctor of medicine.

At least something that finally makes sense. She's not Stark's PA, she's a doctor he's collaborating with on his neuro project. The one with the hilarious abbreviation that only _Stark_ could have come up with.

She's far from chatty and seems to have some issues with interpersonal contact. Another antisocial nerd, then.

Sam's glad their resident scientist, Scott, at least is an entirely different type of person.

***

Medens and Stark spend most of their days in Stark's workshop that no one else has access to. Well, Potts has, and other people associated with SI might, but Steve, Sam, Natasha and the rest of their old team so far haven't managed to talk their way past Friday. Sam is pretty dispassionate about the whole thing, but Steve is likely to break out into verbose rants about whatever Stark might be up to without supervision.

Sam supposes he has a point, but Clint and Wanda's regular mutters of "Ultron" are unlikely to improve the situation. He thinks they simply delight in egging on Steve, because watching Captain America face off against Friday will never _not_ be funny.

Sooner or later, Steve calls her a bully. Friday gets more and more robotic in her answers to his orders (that she consistently ignores when they concern Stark's lab). Steve certainly has the better arguments, so listening to Friday being driven to react like Stark's version of Amazon's Alexa proves that even Stark's new AI is just... well, more 'artificial' than 'intelligence', that's for sure.

***

It's close to the second-year 'anniversary' of Sam and the rest of their team being thrown into the Raft when Sam witnesses Medens run out of Stark's workshop one day, crying. "Hey, hey, Su-- Dr. Medens, wait! Are you okay?"

Over his time as a vet councilor, Sam has perfected his 'comforting' voice, and so he expects her to stop so that he can, at the very least, hand her a tissue and maybe call her a car. Although - does the girl have a room at Stark's wing of the Compound or not? Sam feels bad for a moment. He has to admit he's been maybe a bit too self-involved ever since they've returned from Wakanda. He doesn't know where Hill and the rest of the Avengers support staff are staying, and he _still_ hasn't caught even a glimpse of their cleaning persons.

He resolves to do better.

Medens stops and swivels to look back at Sam. Her whole face is red and swollen, but her glare is still surprisingly effective. "No, I am not. Today is the anniversary of my fiancé's death. If he hadn't decided to return to uni on his motorbike--" The rest of her words are swallowed by a sob.

Sam nestles out a tissue, but when he looks up again in order to hand it over, the girl's run off. He sighs. Somehow he's not surprised.

***

At another evening soon after, they all mutually decide - with just a couple of glances exchanged - to postpone their movie night. It's hardly conductive to team cohesiveness when far too many networks have decided to air the same TV special that focuses on the victims of the 'Civil War' and reports on the individual history of the poor people who regrettably died in Bucharest.

They only catch a few glimpses of a graphic with far too many faces and names on it. Sam feels queasy.

In retrospect, he's still glad they saved Bucky's life, even though he hasn't come out of cryo since. But maybe they should have been a bit more careful of, if not German law enforcement, then at least the innocent bystanders. Not that he can really blame Bucky for throwing that bomb at the underpass.

***

The confrontation's been long in coming. Steve's been hardly talking of anything but T'Challa's latest report on the Winter Soldier.

Apparently even Wakanda's top scientists are unsure about how much longer they can keep Bucky in cryo without him suffering any ill effects. And Sam can understand that everything in Steve rages against the idea of waking his best friend for a handful of days only to send him back to sleep after.

And honestly, Stark's behaving like a _child_ about this.

BARF might be a stupid-ass acronym, but the concept of Stark's Retro-Framing is sound and it _works_. Stark and Medens have recently published what Sam understands to be only the first couple of articles on the science behind it. It all goes over Sam's head, but Scott's had an embarrassing (and annoying) amount of geek-gasms over it, and T'Challa has...

Sam sighs. T'Challa has urged Steve to approach Stark about BARF. The king's reasonably sure it might help rid Bucky of the triggers.

***

"No." Stark says coldly. "I invented BARF for myself in order to deal with my parents' deaths, and the last thing I will _ever_ do is hand it over to their murderer. Why should I care? Barnes can stay a popsicle for all eternity. If we're lucky, the cell degeneration caused by repeated cryogenic freezing will finally be the thing that renders the Winter Soldier harmless."

He evades Steve's mad rush with a sneer on his lips and only looks on, expressionless, when Sam drags Steve from the room.

Outside, Sam stares at Steve. "I think you owe me an explanation. What was that about Stark's parents?"

***

"What is that girl's name?" Steve asks. He's jittery, and Sam has to fight down his irritation. "Dr. Susanne Medens." Sam thumbs through the latest article about Stark and Medens' cooperation on BARF. "According to this, she's a graduate of UMFCD University - wherever that may be -, and something of a shooting star in neuroscience. She's not very approachable, though."

Not that Medens' demeanor matters one way or another, they discover, since the girl has apparently left for a couple of months. Something about a family emergency in Austria.

That leaves Stark. And Stark? Refuses to help.

(Not that Sam can blame him, all things considered.)

***

Their mission's coming together slowly. They meet for coffee far from the Compound. It wouldn't do to have Friday listen in, after all.

Natasha somehow managed to acquire a copy of Medens' research notes on BARF. However, she's not convinced she can break into Stark's workshop; the man's security measures are extensive. T'Challa's scientists have studied the notes in detail and are certain they can program the BARF equipment to read and adjust to Bucky's brainwaves.

Natasha has browbeaten Scott into agreeing to help her shut down Friday for the duration of the heist, and to sneak into the lab using the Ant Man suit. Finally, Scott's past as a thief promises to come in handy.

Wanda has volunteered to keep any potential ally of Stark's away. (Sam doesn't want to know any details, thank you very much.)

Now they only have to wait for another one of Stark's business trips overseas.

***

First of all, though, they all gather around Natasha's state-of-the-art laptop ( _not_ StarkTech) and stare at Stark and Medens' last BARF session before the girl ran off.

In the video, interestingly enough _Medens_ is the one donning the headset and glasses while Stark checks the readouts at the terminal. The holograms are impressive, Sam has to admit. Even though the scenario - Medens is ruminating about what appears to be _her dream wedding_ , honestly? - is utterly unimaginative.

They all roll their eyes almost in unison. Sam shares a glance with Steve and smiles faintly.

Steve's a good guy. Sure, he's not infaillible, but then, who is?

***

They resolve to use the session's video as an instruction manual once they have the machine in their possession. Since the program apparently has a handy "new user" entry and the subject's vital data (as well as brainwaves) gets read into the program in real time, T'Challa's guys are not anticipating any problems with adapting it to Bucky's needs.

Still, Steve once again tries to reason with Stark. Not surprisingly, he has issues with stealing from a teammate, and Sam - while he can see the need, because Bucky's situation is not improving - is afraid that something Stark'll see as another betrayal might very well break the Avengers for good.

"Tony insisted that BARF's only for 'authorized users'," Steve fumes. "And that it'd be a cold day in hell before he authorized Bucky, and that I should keep my nose out of things beyond my understanding. The _arrogance_."

Sam sighs.

***

Talking to Stark himself doesn't resolve the situation, however. Honestly, Sam expected better of himself, but when faced with a cold, dismissive almost-stranger, even his efforts for mediation are for naught.

Sam empathizes with Steve - Stark simply refuses to _listen_. Just like during the Civil War debacle, when his mind was set and compromise not in his vocabulary. How a man with such a reactionary leadership style ever managed to make it as far as Stark in the business world is a mystery to Sam.

"Wilson, I see no reason to continue this pointless little 'talk' of ours," Stark cuts him off after a short exchange. "BARF is _my_ proprietary tech, and it's a long way from clinical trials. Susi Medens is helping with that, but we're still looking at years of development. I'm sure as _hell_ not even _considering_ Rogers' psycho friend for a quick and dirty rush job on his say-so." He pauses before continuing harshly: "Plus, Susi deserves better. Tell Rogers to wait until BARF is freely available, and to get Barnes regular psychotherapy until then. I'm certain the UN's already picked out a secure psychiatric institution."

***

Understandably, that's not an alternative for Steve. Sam can relate. _He_ wouldn't send his best friend to be locked up in a mental hospital, either.

So they proceed with their original plan. The heist starts out a bit dicey (shutting down Friday's apparently not quite as easy as Natasha anticipated), but the rest of it goes like clockwork.

They all decide to accompany Steve to Wakanda after. The BARF machine, securely boxed and stored, takes up one of the Quinjet's seats, and Scott watches it like a hawk.

Only Natasha stays behind in order to keep the Compound secure while Friday's out of commission, and to distract and divert Stark should Friday's unresponsiveness prompt him to return sooner than planned.

***

In Wakanda, they're immediately ushered into the part of the royal palace that houses Bucky's cryo pod. Steve and Bucky hug, but only exchange a handful of words.

"We would prefer it if we could run a couple of tests on the equipment before using it on Mr. Barnes," T'Challa's main scientist worries. The rest of her team gathers around the terminal and painfully goes line-by-line over the machine's coding, exclaiming regularly about the innovativeness behind the programming.

Steve sternly reminds her that they've had Medens' notes, the video, and all of Stark's articles on the science behind it _for months_ , and that Stark will be on the warpath once he's realized what they've done. Sam agrees, and so do the others. With one exception - not surprisingly, it's Scott who's been getting cold feet.

But Scott's qualms are easily ignored.

***

T'Challa's head scientist's finger is almost literally on the confirmation button when Natasha calls on T'Challa's private line that's been rerouted into the lab. "Steve, are you _sure_ we should use BARF without Tony's input?" She frets. "Tony can be quite vindictive."

Sam hesitates, and so does Clint. Wanda just scoffs. "We can always interrupt the session," Steve says finally, "and remember, Tony's been using the machine as recently as last week. He'd never expect us to take it from under his very nose, not when he's been set for another demonstration at that neuroscience seminar in Bethesda. His ego wouldn't allow him to potentially sabotage his own work."

He continues doggedly: "Plus, by now Tony's had enough time to come to terms with Bucky's role in his parents' deaths. These days, I'm afraid _I_ am the main source of his hatred."

No one disagrees. Bucky's face is impassive.

Steve nods at the scientist to start the program.

***

The first part of the initial run, reading Bucky's brainwaves and feeding them into the system, is well underway when all of their communicators start shrilling in unison.

"It's Stark," Clint announces needlessly.

T'Challa nods grimly, and another of his science people starts adjusting the jammer that was supposed to disrupt any and all transmissions to and from this room.

"Team Brutus, King Kitty Cat," Stark addresses them. "I might be all the way in Seoul, but my tech never lies. It seems like you have something in your possession that _doesn't belong to you_. You might want to shut it down and keep your sticky, traitorous little fingers away from it, or you won't like the consequences. I'll have you buried under enough civil suits that you won't see the light of day until you're old and grey. And broke. This is your last warning."

Steve's jaw clenches resolutely. Wanda squeezes his biceps in silent support.

The low-level discomfort in Sam's stomach is starting to bubble up.

***

He's just opened his mouth to-- what? Timidly ask Steve to reconsider? He's not certain, when there's a flash and, half a heartbeat later, a bang and a bitten-off cry of pain from Bucky.

He turns towards the treatment chair and reaches it even before Steve does. He grabs the glasses and the headset and flings them away while Steve tries his best to keep Bucky's hands away from his bleeding eyes and ears. The usually so stoic man is making animal whimpers of pain.

Sam leans back, shaking, once T'Challa's scientists manage to stick Bucky with a sedative and he sinks down, half unconscious.

From the comms comes the sound of a throat being cleared. "Huh. It seems as though no one paid any attention to my warnings." Stark's voice is a little uneven. "I almost feel bad for Barnes. The headset and the glasses have DNA locks on them. They issue a highly focused burst of light and sound when misused. They're supposed to render unauthorized users deaf and blind, but hey!" Steve takes his hands off Barnes and gets up slowly. "Perhaps Barnes' knockoff serum ends up healing the damage. Who knows.

"Frankly, my compassion for Barnes is severely limited. I just have to think of his many victims. Like Julian Schuhmann - the guy Barnes ripped off his bike and threw into traffic. He had only one semester left before marrying. Ask Susi Medens about it one day. Not that I expect your lot ever cared about his name, his family, or his story. Steve... I set the trap, but somehow I didn't expect it all to go that far." He cuts the transmission.

Steve finally turns to the rest of them, a murderous expression on his face. He looks unhinged. Sam takes an unconscious step back. He's afraid of how this will all end.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know there's almost a study tourism to Romania, especially by aspiring doctors? Because Romanian universities have no _numerus clausus_ , so if your family has the money, you can apply for a place there and return home after several years with a doctoral degree that's accepted within all of the EU.
> 
> ...I don't even know what caused these two OCs to be created. But I imagine Julian and Susanne, two students of German resp. Austrian origin, met at the Carol Davila University in Bucharest, fell in love and-- well, then CA:CW happened. (They have no RL equivalents, but somehow they insisted on hijacking this story.)
> 
> Oh, and in the first draft Barnes died. Hmm.


End file.
